American Still Life

Beschreibung

Beverage alcohol has been a part of American culture since the first European settlers arrived with their family recipes for beers and spirits and founded their own distilleries and alehouses. Yet it wasn't until Kentuckians began distilling whiskey from corn in the late eighteenth century that America would find its national drink-bourbon whiskey. Today, bourbon is as American as apple pie and Jim Beam is the biggest name in the business. When first-generation American Jacob Beam relocated from Maryland to Kentucky and began distilling bourbon, he couldn't have known that he was launching a family business of remarkable longevity. Over two centuries and seven generations, the company's dedication to consistent quality has made Jim Beam the bestselling bourbon in the world and an American icon recognized around the globe-all the while keeping the business in the family's hands. In American Still Life, F. Paul Pacult-one of the world's foremost writers on the subject of spirits-chronicles the success of the Beam family business and the drink that became a permanent fixture of our culture. Always willing to innovate, but never willing to sacrifice the integrity of their product, the Beam family steered their brand through challenges that would sink the average business-the Civil War, Prohibition, two world wars, and today's fierce global competition. It's a story inextricably interwoven with America's rise to cultural and economic greatness and full of enlightening lessons for today's business leaders.
"American Still Life" erzählt die Geschichte eines Familienunternehmens mit einer 200-jährigen Tradition: Jim Beam. Dieses Unternehmen hat es verstanden, den Herausforderungen der Zeit zu begegnen und sich ständig neu anzupassen - sei es an öffentliche Regulierung, an die geschmacklichen Vorlieben seiner Kunden oder an die harte internationale Konkurrenz. Ausführlich erörtert werden auch Fragen zu Marketing und Markenbildung, Innovation, globaler Präsenz und Wettbewerb, öffentlicher Regulierung, Werbung und Akquisition. Jim Beam ist mit sagenhaften 5,1 Millionen Kisten weltweit der meist verkaufte Bourbon.

Autor*in

F. Paul Pacult

Themen in »American Still Life«

Business & Management Wirtschaft Wirtschaft u. Management

Stimmen zu »American Still Life«

".It's a fascinating glimpse of American political history." (Drinks International, December 2003)
()

How does a sour mash corn whiskey brand go from being a Kentucky family's "adjunct farming activity" to founding a corporation that ships over five million cases worldwide each year? Pacult (Kindred Spirits: The Spirit Journal Guide to the World's Distilled Spirits and Fortified Wines) extensively researched the story of the Beam family, which is just as much a 19th-and 20th-century American history. The young country's struggles with slavery, Prohibition and war, its sociopolitical maturation and its shift from the agricultural to an industrial economy all come into play. A prolific spirits writer, Pacult has an expert's grasp on the topic, which carries the book through its slow periods. Upstanding citizens to a man, the Beams don't always make for scintillating reading - no scoundrels, no scandals - and only Jim Beam's grandson Booker Noe, the refreshingly blunt, six-foot-four, 360-pound former master distiller, emerges as a character with any color. Trying to keep all the Beams straight might make readers feel like they've just downed a few shots of the bourbon itself. Most interesting is Pacult's examination of American popular culture and its effect on the bourbon business: how bourbon became déclassé in the 1970s, the venerable spirit losing out to sexy newcomer vodka (and its inadvertent pitchman, James Bond), and how scotch whiskey's rising popularity in the 1980s fueled the production of bourbon's answer to the single-malt, the small-batch bourbon. The book could use a few more colorful details, however, such as the bit about temperance activist Carry Nation and her ax attacks on taverns. (Aug.) (Publishers Weekly, June 16, 2003) ".It's a fascinating glimpse of American political history." (Drinks International, December 2003)
()

Details

Link teilen